JotCast | Notre Dame Football Live Chat Dec. 7, 2022

Notre Dame Football Live Chat Dec. 7, 2022

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Eric Hansen

1:59

Hi Marie. Life is good in South Bend this week. Thanks for asking. To your first question, Marcus Freeman has stated this, they want players to get their degrees before entertaining a transfer. So underclassmen would not be encouraged to get into the portal. ... To your second set of questions, the genie's out of the bottle. There's no way to reinstate the sit-out rule without massive litigation and very likely a loss in court. It was almost worse. The NCAA considered unlimited transfers without sitting out but held back on that. Players can do that if they're grad transfers. But underclassmen have a hard road to pull that off. There may be some self-correction at some point with the novelty wearing off, perhaps NIL deals going sour, cautionary tales .. but that's hard to predict at this point. One thing ND has going for it is there are kids who are not going to want to walk away from the Notre Dame education.

Marie from Atlanta

part 2. Given the absolute chaos associated with the portal this year, and the large number of players jumping into the portal who will likely end up without a new team, do you think this will force the powers that be to re-look at the transfer policy and try to do something to get it under control? If so, what are some ways they could get it under control? Do you think reinstating the sit out a year rule would be considered? Although big-name players would all fight it with Lawyers and Win, reinstating it might discourage the non-big-name players, many of whom will not end up with a new team from entering the portal. Thanks for hosting the chat and look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic.

1:50

Hi Eric, I hope you’re having a great week, you must be extremely busy with this new era of the transfer portal. It seems ND will be more aggressive with the transfer portal moving forward both in taking players from the portal and ushering players towards the portal. I understand that the coaches are having a lot of talks with players who may need a little direction, and encouragement, when it comes to entering the portal. However, what happens, if there is a player who is told, he will never see the field, with the point of the discussion being to encourage him to transfer out of ND, but the player’s response is that he doesn’t care and he wants to continue to be a part of the team and complete his Notre Dame degree. Will Notre Dame honor their promise to that player, or will he be forced out? Living in the south east, I know firsthand of several cases like this involving SEC schools where the kids were forced out, I hope Notre Dame will not resort to this level.

Eric Hansen

1:50

Hi Shane. There were roughly 1,950 scholarship players in last year's portal cycle and that record is expected to be shattered eventually this cycle. What's causing the movement are a wide variety of reasons, some of which I talked about in this story: Getting a handle on the transfer portal complexities awaiting Freeman, ND ... Yes there is NILmoney involved in some cases, but not all. I have no idea about the portal numbers on those four teams. I would think they're all relatively low. Just don't have the time to research it when other question are waiting. I can tell you USC has 36, with 33 from four-year schools. ND has four.

Shane from White Deer, Texas

1:43

Hey Eric - hope all is well. Has there ever been this many players in the portal as there seems to be now? What is causing this amount of movement? Are the reported amounts of NIL money exaggerated? I have heard some players are getting millions of dollars? Lastly, out of this years playoff teams, how many portal players are currently on their respective rosters? Sorry for all the questions. Go Irish!!

Eric Hansen

1:42

Hi James, Notre Dame had 14 players enter the portal last year. That number includes K Harrison Leonard, who was at walk-on at ND but I believe got a scholarship at his new school, Rhode Island. I'd expect a few more in this cycle and that would include players who enter the portal in the spring window (May 1-15). No, I do not think ND will take two portal QBs nor would they.

James from Columbus

1:35

Hi Eric, really enjoy the chats. Over/under on current roster entering the portal? Since I am sure no one else will ask, who is ND targeting in the QB portal derby and is that player even in the portal now? Is there a possibility that they may take more than one QB? Thanks as always!

Eric Hansen

1:35

Thanks, Doug. Michael Mayer and Isaiah Foskey are rumored as opting out eventually, though Marcus Freeman didn't confirm that on Sunday. We'll have him in front of us again on Saturday. Obviously, Pyne, Bellamy and Ekwonu won't, because they're in the portal. There may be some players who delay heading to the portal, because they want to play in the bowl game. I think we'll have a much better head count this weekend, so stay tuned.

Doug from Sunny Florida

1:32

Eric, I'm excited and looking forward to the bowl game practically in my back yard! I think this game is definitely one of the marquee non-playoff bowl games. Have you heard of any rumblings of who, if anyone, from ND is opting out of the bowl game yet? Who do you see as the go-to receiver if Mayer opts out? Lastly, hit me up for a couple of restaurant recommendations in the Jacksonville area if you need!

Eric Hansen

1:32

A bunch of you had this question and some varied it a bit in terms of who I would take/like. As far as which QBs interest ND, I think Devin Leary (NC State), Hudson Card (Texas) and Brennan Armstrong (Virginia) are the names I'm hearing. If Wake Forest's Sam Hartman or Tulane's Michael Pratt jumped in the portal, which some are expecting, I'd expect the Irish to kick the tires on them too. If it were up to me, I'd add Spencer Sanders of Oklahoma State to the list and eliminate Card. I like Card's game, but he has up to three years of eligibility left. Is he good enough to risk the ripples that might cause with Buchner, Angeli, Minchey and Carr? I'd prefer someone like Leary or Armstrong or Sanders, who have more experience, who can win games with their legs as well (less so with Leary) and who are likely one and done. Hartman would also be one and done. I think Pratt could play two more years, and I could live with that.

Bill from St Joe, MI

1:24

Eric, who are the QB transfers in the portal that ND is considering?

Eric Hansen

1:19

Hey Eric. Yes, Brandyn Hillman just became Notre Dame's 27th verbal commitment in the 2023 class minutes ago. Our Kyle Kelly has a full story. He can play RB, WR, wildcat QB, safety and cornerback. He says he'd be happy with any of those. I think the staff would like him to start off on offense, but attrition at either safety or corner could change that outlook. I agree with you, he's an underrated, valuable piece in this recruiting class. And I'm not just agreeing with you, because you have a cool first name.

Eric, Atlanta GA

1:12

Eric, we just got Brandyn Hillman committed which I find as an under the radar but extremely important commitment. Where do you see him ending up position wise for the Irish. Very exciting addition and a young man who seems like a wonderful value add as a player and person.

Eric Hansen

1:10

Tom, I don't see that happening, but if it did, I think he would be welcome to compete. ND was not trying to push him out. They wanted him to stay and compete in the spring.

Tom from Toronto

1:08

Hi Eric, another Drew Payne question if you have time. If he changes his mind and wants to stay at ND, would he keep his scholarship? Do you think that he would get a fair chance to compete for the starting role? Thank you.

Eric Hansen

1:08

I don't disagree with the attributes you used to describe Pyne and perhaps he will do ever better at his next step. But I think this helps illustrate why the coaches wanted a competition in the spring with an additional QB and not a coronation in December of Pyne as the 2023 starter.

1:06

So the five key metrics are: Rush offense, team pass efficiency, rush defense, total defense and turnover margin. Let's look at ND's numbers in all five, which improved a lot over the season, as well as South Carolina's, Georgia's and Michigan's: ND is ranked 42nd nationally in rush offense, 29 in team pass efficiency, 43 in rush defense, 22 in total defense and 74 in turnover margin.
South Carolina is 100-31-113-79-103
Georgia is 18-15-1-9-74
Michigan is 6-24-3-3-21
As far as pass efficiency itself here are the rankings for the national champs the past 10 years, starting with 2021 and ending with 2012:
4-1-2-13-10-18-25-2-1-1
And the runners-ip
7-9-16-1-11-34-21-1-24-74
The 74 number is the 2012 Notre Dame team. The Irish were 29th as a team and Pyne was 21st individually. Pretty, pretty good. The problem was consistency. Overall his rating was 155.3. He was over 200 against USC and Navy but at 117.6 against BC, 114.4 vs. Clemson, 105.5 vs. Syracuse and 107.4 in the loss to Stanford. (more)

Tom from Toronto

12:46

Hi Eric, Sorry to read the news about Drew Pyne’s decision to enter the portal. I expect that during his meeting with Coach Freeman it became clear that while he is a good quarterback, he was not good enough and they were going to look for a better quarterback in the portal. As you indicated in one of your recent articles, he was probably going to be seen as third in line this year, next year and the year after that. I hope that Joanie Mitchell’s lyrics, “that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone” don’t ring true. Drew Pyne was a hard worker, a loyal teammate and a leader. And a good quarterback. As to my question, on many occasions you have referred to the metrics of the teams that have recently won the national championship, one of which is quarterback play. Would you be so kind as to tell us again what they are, where ND stands this year in each category, including how Drew Pyne’s rating this year fits in the mix? Thank you.

Eric Hansen

12:45

Um, Jim. There is no music on this chat. If you hear music now or at the start of it, then I want your eggnog recipe ASAP.

Jim- Chester, NJ

12:43

No question. Just one request. Please get rid of that introductory music to your chat. Anything, anything will be better than that “noise.” Thank you.

Eric Hansen

12:43

I do see a player who deserved to compete for the job with a portal player and a guy who had beaten him out in August. He chose to go another direction. ... As far as admonishing Pyne, I didn't interpret it as such. If I remember correctly, Marcus was asked about how big the turnovers were in the outcome of the game. They were huge. And he acknowledged that. It doesn't mean Pyne didn't so some great things outside of the turnovers. I don't think it had a single thing to do with Drew leaving. It was about bringing in a portal QB. ... Tyler Buchner and Steve Angeli in some combination will play in the Gator Bowl. We should get a little more clarification the more practices Buchner gets under his belt. The Irish are not practicing this week because coaches are out on the road recruiting. It will probably be somewhat light next week because of exams.

12:37

Hi Jim, and thank you. I think Drew Pyne's whole body of work needs to be taken into consideration, and I believe that's what the coaching staff did. Whereas DeShone Kizer's 2015 season -- stepping in game 2 for Malik Zaire -- completely changed that staff's idea of what his ceiling was, Pyne's didn't change his enough to eliminate the diea of adding from the portal. I would be in agreement of that. I want to acknowledge the improvements he made and the heart and soul he put into the program, and yet I don't see a quarterback that looks like the others in this year's College Football Playoff and who could get ND into the playoff and wins games there. (more)

Jim, Oakwood, OH

12:27

Hi Eric, I loved your analytics piece last week about QBs who portaled or went portaling last year and their respective performances in comparison to Drew Pyne's performance last year. Very informative in showing that other QBs do not necessarily perform at the expected level when they enter the portal. My questions concern the "astronomically high" QB performance numbers that Drew received from PFF due to his USC performance and how they skewed upward his year-end numbers: Were they a "one off" based on what we saw throughout his year's performance? Did he elevate his ceiling based on that performance? I don't recall Coach Free ever publicly admonishing a player quite as harshly as he did Drew, in the post-game comments, about the fumbled hand off in the third quarter. Might that apparent loss of the coach's confidence hastened Drew's decision to enter the portal ... were you surprised at the immediacy of his decision post-game? Will Tyler and Angeli be team Gator Bowl? Thanks and a great job by your team.

Eric Hansen

12:26

Because Kelly got burned early in his time at ND with unexpected departures, he became much more precises in tracking those numbers and trying to hit the 85- scholarship maximum right on the nose. Prior to that, he's sometimes go into a season with 80 or so players. In recent years, that's why you'd see ND's scholarship numbers creep up into the 90s in the spring and sometimes summer. Teams don't have to be at 85 until the first day of fall-semester classes. The transfer portal for Marcus Freeman makes this calculation more difficult because there are likely to be more surprise transfers and amassing incoming transfers is more complicated (but not impossible).

12:22

This was standard procedure even before transfer portal madness hit. During the Brian Kelly Era, Kelly and the staff would meet with players after the season to talk about ND's plans for them and their thoughts about their own future. Sometimes this would repeat with certain players after spring practice. Unless a player had his degree in hand or was on track to get it in the spring, the option to return went both ways. ND was not obligated to invite them back. If they didn't have their degree, ND was not going to push them out, but sometimes they made that determination themselves based on projected playing time. All the while, though, the Kelly staff would try to gauge the likely number of roster churn, which helped them determine the number of recruits in the latest recruiting class. (more)

Joe Tieman -Phoenix

12:17

First time submitting but avid reader of your chats. If we are bringing in 30 new players then 30 on scholarship have to go. Right?Obviously some will transfer and some are out of eligibility but not 30! How do we do that? Do we tell players they aren’t going to play so pull their scholarships. If so how do you sell 4/40?

Eric Hansen

12:16

Manny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Holidays to you as well. Former Notre Dame QB Phil Jurkovec is leaving Boston College after three seasons there to finish his career at Pitt, back home in Western Pennsylvania and with an offensive coordinator and QBs coach he had some success with at BC, Frank Cignetti Jr. Cignetti was at BC in Phil's first two seasons there. ... Although ND offensive coordinator/QBs coach Tommy Rees and Jurkovec are on good terms and communicate on a semi-regular basis, I don't think either one of them thought a reunion at ND was a good idea. Drew Pyne was light-years better than Jurkovec this season and Phil was not expected to even beat out redshirt freshman Emmett Morehead if Phil had stayed. He is a reclamation project. Does that mean there's zero magic left? Not necessarily, but for a team like ND that is looking to minimize risk, Jurkovec is better off at Pitt. The Irish will get to face him and the rest of the Panthers at Notre Dame Stadium next season on a date TBA.

Manny in San Pedro

12:05

Eric!!!!!!!!!!! Happy Holiday season!!! It was a disappointing season but I am so excited!!! For the future. Feel like a transfer QB can make us a contender next year. Why wasn’t Phil looked at to come back? Just seems like he knew Rees. Also is Diehard a Christmas movie!?!?!? I say yes!!!

Eric Hansen

With no further blather, let's get started.

Here are the rules:

12:04

As for the chat, PLEASE include your name and hometown with your question(s).

12:03

Tyler James and I were back with our YouTube show, Monday Night Live, this week. We break down Notre Dame’s Gator Bowl matchup with South Carolina, the transfer portal tsunami, ND’s QB situation for the bowl and beyond — with Drew Pyne in the portal — and a recruiting reset. The show continues its run next Monday night at 7 ET. If you can’t catch us live, you can watch anytime during the week, as the show keeps its shelf life going through the entire week.
Finally, recruiting writer Kyle Kelly will host a subscribers-only recruiting chat in the Insider Lounge on Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. EST.

12:02

Some quick programming notes:
Our Inside ND Sports podcast presented by Dead Soxy this week will record late Thursday afternoon, so look for it beginning Thursday evening. Our special guest will be a member of the Irish 2023 recruiting class. If you missed last week’s episode, you can find it here. Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney joined Tyler James and me to discuss the expanded Rivals coverage of the transfer portal, what his staff uses to rank portal players, who will be the top quarterbacks in the portal, how teams are turning over their rosters with the portal, where Notre Dame fits in the portal picture, whether ND will finish with a top five recruiting class in 2023 and more.

12:01

Welcome to Notre Dame Football Live Chat. Transfer Portal Tsunami Edition.

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